Meth also causes erosion of teeth because of the acidic content of the drug, Uribe said.

Signs that someone is cooking meth include blacked out windows in homes, strong chemical smells, and stains in sinks and bath tubs, and on walls where the drug is made.

Showing photographs taken from the website “The Faces of Meth,” Uribe didn’t mince words about the physical and psychological effects of the drug.

There is an upswing in the use of the one pot method of cooking meth as well, Uribe said.

Those “pots,” typically plastic soda bottles, are dangerous to anyone who encounters them, according to Uribe.

Police who clean meth labs wear fire retardant suits because of the danger, and Uribe urged people to never pick up plastic bottles appearing to be suspicious that they find along roadways and other places.

Uribe, who said the average adult American uses two boxes of decongestant a year, said 1.2 million boxes of ephedrine were sold in Michigan last year.

Ephedrine is an ingredient used in the making of meth, and is now only available for purchase behind pharmacy counters.

Uribe also spoke during the symposium about designer drugs, most of which are not marketed for ingestion in an attempt to skirt laws.

Spice and K2, synthetic LSD, are 10 times more powerful now then they have been in the past, Uribe said.

Side affects include suicide, extreme headaches, vomiting and other sickness, and elevated blood pressure.

Bath salts also have tragic results.

Uribe recalled speaking to a school class about bath salts, and a student commented that she didn’t see aliens or monsters, as some users have reported.

Instead, she saw bunnies, she said.

A year later, her teacher called Uribe, telling him the girl committed suicide.

Uribe has also seen marijuana that isn’t the same as the drug that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

Some marijuana today is 85 to 97 percent pure THC, compared to the 11 percent that was found in the marijuana grown in Mexico in the past.

Uribe urged parents to go online to find information about the drugs youths are using today.

He also said, although there aren’t gang-related drug issues locally, they are here, and kids are taking them.

“Even if there’s one meth lab, we have a meth problem,” Uribe said. “And we have a lot more than that.”